Not As It Was
by finem
Summary: The trio have made it back to the Destiny Islands, but while Riku and Kairi are easily readjusting to normal life, Sora is having difficulty forgetting the outside world. A seed of darkness exists in his heart, it grows within, and Sora is lost...
1. Chapter 1

**Standard Disclaimer:** They're not mine but they're beautiful and I so enjoy exploring their hearts.

**A/N:** This is a story exploring what it would be like to return to an ordinary life after doing so many extraordinary things. That's always been something that has interested me in stories where average kids get sucked into amazing adventures for extended periods of time. Once the adventure is over, how do you just go back to normal? After doing and seeing and experiencing so many amazing things, how do you just…let that go? I'm sure it's not easy, and Sora is discovering this the hard way.

Not As It Was

_I've been having these weird thoughts lately…_

…_like…is any of this for real or not?_

………_was any of it worth it?_

It's been about two months since we made it back to The Islands. Two months since we got the massage from King Mickey telling us that the world borders were sealed again. Two months since I found myself locked, trapped, and suffocating in the world that I had fought so hard to restore…to return to…

Y'know, it's funny. Somehow the details always seem to get missed. I guess it's understandable when playing a game that involves a whole gummiverse of worlds—I mean, who can focus on a single drop of water when you're trying to not be dismembered by the storm?—but still…it's amazing how easily I forgot what life was like in a world without Heartless, or Nobodies, or magic, or Gummi Ships. I blame Naminé and my year-long nap for that.

It took me getting home and seeing just how much had changed in my absence for me to really understand what it meant for me to have been gone. I mean, Riku and I had been "missing" for almost a year and a half after we managed to stop the Heartless the first time, and while we'd been running around fighting and searching for each other, Kairi, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie had all moved on with their lives. Heck, they'd completely forgotten about me for a while, and yeah, I know that it wasn't their fault, but it still sucked pretty bad. When Kairi was kidnapped by the Organization, that interrupted things for her little, but she was only gone for a couple of weeks and in that time was able to meet her Nobody and become whole again, which was a good thing. It had even happened during Summer Break so, aside from a little missed homework, it hadn't even impacted her school life really.

She's a freshman in High School now. In the time we were gone, she had graduated from our Middle School, taken her entrance exams and made it into the High School that Riku and Wakka already attended and we all had agreed to get into together. We had made it home with just a few days to spare before the beginning of the second term. Riku had missed a year of classes, but he had been a freshman already anyway. For him, that missed year was a bonus. Now he and Kairi were in the same class along with the rest of our friends except Wakka who was a year ahead. Me, I had missed my last year of Middle School, so while all of my friends were enjoying High School together, I was still stuck with all the kids who were younger than me, yet still doing better in all of our subjects than I was.

It was humiliating. I had gone from being the savior of a thousand worlds to the class idiot over the span of a few months, and I'll admit that I wasn't handling it too well. No one knew what had really happened during Riku's and my absence. We couldn't tell anyone about the other worlds out there, so we had to play it off as if we couldn't remember, but that just left me as the freak at school. No one wanted to be around me. All the kids treated me like I was cursed or something, even the ones who had known me before. It made my life even more frustrating because it meant that, despite my sparkling personality, I wasn't making any friends. If my time away had taught me anything, it's that my strength is based in the relationships I had with others. Without those bonds, I was left floundering. I found myself falling more and more into the quieter tendencies that had developed when I was Roxas; observing, thinking, and trying to figure out how to solve my situation.

My parents weren't too thrilled with my progress in school either. When it first became clear that I was struggling, they hired a private tutor for me. They didn't like the fact that I was a year behind the other kids my age, so they decided that I would just have to catch up. Everyday after school I had an additional three hours of lessons. I had Cram School on Saturdays and more time with my tutor on Sunday. I was studying for High School Entrance Exams, studying to test out of my first year of High School, and trying to keep up with my lessons for my last year of Middle School all at the same time, and I was cracking under the pressure. I'd never been a stellar student. Grades were just one more thing that Riku had always beat me in, but I had always done well enough. Now, on top of everything else that was bouncing around my head, I just couldn't concentrate on all of the work that was being thrown at me, and my grades kept getting worse.

I barely was ever allowed to leave the house anymore. My mom kept telling me that it was just until I was caught up, but the more time that passed, the less I could stomach being cooped up inside and the less I could focus on my work. I found my mind drifting more and more, and I kept finding myself thinking about the way things were before. When I had been out with Donald and Goofy, there had been no rules. Life hadn't always been easy—heck, it was downright terrifying at times—but I had a job, a purpose, and it was my mission to fulfill that purpose. Now, that was over. My new enemies were textbooks and tutors, and unfortunately, my Keyblade couldn't do a damn thing to get rid of them.

I had no clue what to think about it when I found that I was wishing for things to be what they had been before. I missed all of the friends I had made during my travels. I thought of them often and wondered if they even remembered me anymore. It was so hard to sit in my cramped dark living room working on equations and compositions all the while knowing what else there was out there. Knowing that I still held the key that could open the gateways that would take me to those worlds. Knowing that there were countless other worlds out there that had yet to be visited. I wanted to see them…I wanted to be out there again, fighting heartless, saving people, facing down villains, scorching away my fear and frustrations in the flame of glorious battle! The need was almost a living thing inside of me. It was making me crazy.

I was so confused and frustrated and angry and I needed to talk about this stuff to someone, but thanks to my extra workload, I never saw Riku or Kairi anymore. I mean, in the beginning, we had tried to work together, study together, and everything, but it became painfully clear just how much that didn't work. I had more homework than I knew what to do with, they were working on the same assignments, talking about their classes, and well…it didn't take too long to realize that I was just becoming a third wheel. It's amazing really. We fought together side-by-side. Fought back the darkness, survived things that most of the people in our world could never even imagine, yet of all the things that tried to separate us for so long, it was High School that finally did the trick.

For a long time I tried so hard to hang-on to the optimism that had been my trademark through the whole Kingdom Hearts mess. When Riku and Kairi asked how I was doing, I would smile as always and tell them I was fine. I'd complain about the work and tell them how much it sucked to not see them, but I'd laugh it off…kept talking about how great it would be the following year when we were all in the same classes together, and we would smile and make plans and everything would be great. Of course they took me at my word. They knew me…had no reason to doubt me. But I think that they also really wanted to believe that everything was perfect now. They were happy with their lives. Even Riku, who had been really quiet and emo the first few weeks after we got back, was becoming more like his old self; competitive, sarcastic, and more than a little egotistical. He was breezing through his extra assignments and had plenty of time to hang out with the others. He smiled often and was laughing again too, and I could see that returning home for him was definitely a really good thing.

I was happy for him. All I had ever wished for in life was the happiness of the people I loved, so who was I to dim that happiness. Just because I was struggling a little didn't mean that I should be a downer on them. I just needed a little time to get my feet back under me…figure out my place in my own world. Time to forget about the amazing things I had done and seen; re-establish myself in my tiny, tiny corner of the much bigger picture.

Ok, so that was easier said than done. But really, how could anyone blame me for missing the things that I once had? I had learned to freeze time, to call lightning from the sky, to fly! And now, what was left of it? I still was the Keyblade master, sure. The blade was always with me and always would be, but what good did that do me now? Everything that I had learned from the different worlds was fading. When I lived between worlds, I was held by the laws of none of them, but now that I'm back on the Destiny Islands, the rules of this world are overriding everything that I had before and that was leaving me and my abilities at a level of normal that was just downright boring.

But I kept it all to myself. Riku and Kairi didn't want to hear about my anxieties. They didn't want to hear about the hollow emptiness that seemed to be growing deeper and deeper inside of me every time I thought about the outside world. They couldn't understand the yearning to be back out among the stars behind the controls of a silly looking but powerful gummi ship…They didn't need to know that I was failing at everything; that my parents were looking at them and wondering why I was the only one having trouble getting back on my feet…They were happy. What else mattered other than that? What did it matter that my life was falling apart?

As I thought more and more about it, I couldn't help but laugh at the irony. This was what I had fought so hard for; this world, this existence. I had risked my life so many times to get back to my home, and now that I was there, it seemed that home just…wasn't what it was supposed to be. I was unhappy. I'd never admit it to anyone else, but after having returned home, I was now as unhappy as I could ever remember being. I hadn't felt this empty since learning that my world had been swallowed by darkness back when the whole mess first began. Even then, it was not as bad because at least I had Donald and Goofy and hope that things would get back to normal. Now I had gotten normal back and found it sorely…lacking. I felt like…like a shadow; a residue of what I'd once been. My friends were drifting farther and farther away from me and I felt like I was losing everything that made me who I was. If this was the end result, then what had it all been for? What had I fought so hard for? If I'd know that this was how it would be…I doubt that I would have been so quick to jump through that door to the light.

Everything came to a head the night I brought my mid-term results home. I was already in a bad mood and I just didn't feel like studying anymore that day so I had sat and pointedly ignored my tutor when he got to the house. This, as I had hoped, irritated the guy enough that he collected his things and prepared to leave early. What I hadn't counted on was him stopping to speak with my mother before he left, telling her that I was being intentionally difficult and not even trying to understand my lessons. Of course this was partially true, but it wasn't the way he was making it seem. Unfortunately, my mother couldn't see things from my perspective any more than anyone else could. She apologized to the man as he made his way out the door and promised that she'd talk with me and work out the "misunderstanding." When she shut the door behind him she turned angry eyes on me and sat down across from me at the living room table. I guess I was feeling pretty reckless because I continued glowering and staring out the window.

"Show me the results of your mid-terms," she told me in an even voice. I pulled the crumpled paper from my bag and tossed it on the table. I could almost feel her temper spike at the rude gesture, but I was too pissed to care. I was already in trouble anyway, and I've never been one to do things half way, so why bother with placating gestures? They wouldn't change her response to the marks on the page. After a moment, she picked up the page I had dropped, studied it carefully, then placed in back on the table.

"We'll discuss this when your father gets home," she said in that even voice that was really starting to get on my nerves. "Go to your room now, and stay there. Your phone and internet privileges are suspended until I say otherwise. Now go." I didn't move. I just continued sitting there, staring out the window into the fading afternoon light, and I could again feel her temper rising. I was treading on thin ice and I knew it, but I couldn't stop myself. Oddly and completely out of place, the thought of treading on ice reminded me of my adventures searching for Pooh-bear in that cave in the 100 Acre Woods. That is actually what finally got me to my feet because I found myself fighting back tears as I remembered the little stuffed bears plea for me to not go away. In that moment, I would have given anything to be able to step back into that book and spend several hours swinging and bouncing and laughing my worries away. Unfortunately, as with everything else from my other life, that option was cut off from me, so instead, I angrily grabbed my books, shoved them into my bag, then stormed up the stairs to my room and slammed the door behind me.

I dropped my bag on the floor and moved to open my window and let some fresh air in. I felt like I was suffocating in my tiny house. Looking out across the bay, I could just make out our island through the marine layer, and on the waves I spotted four tiny boats moving towards it. I wondered if those were my friends going out there or some of the other kids who had taken to playing on the island while we'd been gone. It didn't matter. Just seeing the boats on the water bouncing on the waves brought back memories that seemed so far away; memories of freedom and happiness, independence…and friendship. It was hard to look away. I thought that maybe…if I stood there long enough, if I just kept watching, somehow I could become one of those kids in one of those boats. Maybe I would forget about all the memories that tormented me now and be oblivious to the wonders of the world outside. Maybe I could just be happy, goofy, clueless Sora again.

The light faded. I finally lost site of the boats, and as darkness fell across the islands, I was filled with a sense of loss so powerful it left me physically weak. There was something growing in my chest and it had been since we'd returned; something terrifying and familiar, but something I couldn't…or wouldn't yet name. There was so much going on in my head, and I couldn't make sense of any of it. So many conflicting wants and needs and concerns and fears and I just didn't know what to do. Feeling lost, weak, and very alone, I collapsed onto my bed, buried my face in my pillow and screamed loud and long hoping that it would do something to help vent the chaos inside. It didn't.

By the time my father got home, the weak feeling that I had earlier had morphed into something much worse. I was shaky and nauseated and feeling generally crappy, so I really wasn't in the mood to take the reaming I knew I was in for. The cosmos took no pity on me, however, and not long after I heard my father enter the house, my mother was knocking on my door telling me to come down-stairs. I took a few minutes to try to calm my aching head. I even went so far as to attempt casting cura to see if it would help. I got a hint of the old power that used to make me feel so alive and energized, but it was a ghost of what it should have been and that only made me feel worse.

When I finally made my way down stairs, my parents were sitting at one side of the table, my mid-term results resting between them. They both looked up at me, anger and disappointment clear on their faces, and I walked slowly forward to sit at the table across from them. I focused on the wood grain in front of me preferring it to the looks on my parents' faces. It was like I could feel their emotions beating against me, and it hurt. I can't even explain the pain, but it was bad, and I found myself fighting to breathe around a lump that had suddenly formed in my throat.

"Do you care to explain yourself?" my father asked, voice carefully controlled. I didn't have an answer for him, and I was fighting hard to hold back tears, so I just continued staring at the wood grain. There was something oddly soothing about the waves and patterns and shifting browns.

"Look at me when I speak to you, Sora," he told me, heat coloring his voice just slightly. I reluctantly looked up from the table into my father's eyes and flinched inwardly. He was really pissed. "I asked for and explanation for this." He stabbed down angrily at the crumpled piece of paper on the table and I swallowed hard around the lump, looking down from his face to where he was pointing.

"I don't know what you want me to say," I finally managed in a strained voice, and that seemed to set my him off.

"I want you to tell me why your mother and I are paying hundreds every week for a tutor to help you! I want you to explain what exactly you've been doing during the time that you're supposedly studying because based on what your tutor has told your mother, you obviously aren't even trying! I want you to explain yourself, Sora! Do you want to be a failure? Is that it?! Do you want to amount to nothing, never make it to High School, become a sore disappointment to your family and friends and—"

"Yes, Dad, you've got me all figured out! That's exactly what I want. I've always dreamed of being the village idiot!"

"DON'T YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME!"

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID IT FIRST!!!!" We were both on our feet now screaming at each other. The tears I had been fighting were escaping my control and slowly seeping from my eyes. My head was pounding, the feeling that had been growing inside of me seemed to swell even more, and I was taken by a sudden gut-wrenching fear as I began to understand why it was so familiar. The situation was spiraling more and more out of my control. My father was still yelling, my mother was just sitting there staring at her hands, and the darkness that had been growing inside of me for months now was a living thing, seething and raging and trying to claw its way out. I just needed everything to stop and leave me alone for a while. I was terrified of what I thought was happening and my family was completely unaware of the danger. I needed space. I needed time.

"STOP!" I screamed desperately, knowing that the magic wouldn't be there, but hoping that somehow…just this once, since I really needed it to work, it would. But as always, the spell fell useless, and a little more of me crumpled away into the abyss.

"DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO COMAND ME!" my father yelled. "I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL I'VE GOTTEN THROUGH TO YOU! I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU'RE TRYING SO HARD TO DISAPPOINT US! BOTH RIKU AND KAIRI ARE EXCELLING IN THEIR CLASSES DESPITE WHAT HAPPENED!! WHY ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE REFUSING TO PUT IN THE EXTRA EFFORT!!"

"You don't understand," I sobbed through my panic, shaking my head and just letting the tears fall. "You don't know what you're asking of me."

"WE'RE ASKING YOU TO TRY, SORA!!"

"IT'S TOO MUCH FUCKING WORK!" I screamed in a sudden fit of rage, and I couldn't figure out where it had come from. "ANY IDIOT COULD SEE THAT!!"

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME STUPID, BOY?!?" My father roared, and I could feel everything falling apart. I had to get help. This was bad…very bad, and I really needed to get away from my parents, and quickly. Riku. He would know what to do. He knew more than anyone what it meant to fight off the darkness. Yes. Riku would help me. I had to get to Riku.

Without even thinking about it, I turned from the table and dashed to the door slamming it behind me as I left the house. I heard my father screaming after me, but couldn't bring myself to care. The darkness was growing, and only Riku could help me fight it off. And Kairi! She had brought me back once before…maybe she could help me now too! The Keyblade was in my hand without any conscious memory of calling it. It's presence was always a boost for my strength and magic, so I think part of me was hoping it could help me keep the darkness at bay. On instinct, I jumped into the air thinking it would be fastest to fly to Riku's house, but I barely made it ten feet before gently drifting to the ground. I swore quietly under my breath getting back to my feet. Why did I keep forgetting the magic was gone?

I ran full speed the whole three blocks to his house, bypassing his front door and heading straight to the tree I always used to get to his window when I visited. His light was out, but I knew that sometimes he liked to sit in a darkened room just thinking or listening to music so I still held on to the hope that he was home. I had enough super jump in me to reach the branch that was at his window level without bothering to climb, so I swung onto the branch and peered inside. As my eyes focused through the glass, I was able to make out a figure on the bed. Relief rushed through me in a wave of cleaning light and I reached out my hand to rap on the glass…but then I froze. The figure was moving and I realized with a shock that it was actually two figures, stretched out along side each other on Riku's bed, lips and tongues passionately exploring each other's mouth. I caught a flash of all too familiar auburn hair in the moonlight, and in the wake of the light of relief, came a dark wave of despair.

They were both right there…Riku and Kairi…my friends…the only ones who could save me from the darkness that was consuming me from the inside. I remember thinking that it was too late…that they were too far away now, and that struck me as strange because they were right in front of me. But then I was losing all sensation in my body…I felt myself slipping from the branch…falling…then darkness took my vision, and I remember nothing more.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**A/N: **cackles insanely so there you have it. Sora, consumed by darkness! What, did you think that since they were home they were safe from the darkness? The Heartless are so still out there, and with our hero's defenses down, he was ripe for consumption, and what better way to take over than to take over the one person who can stop you. Please let me know of what you think. If you like it and want to see more, **review** so that I know to keep writing. Hope you've enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Standard Disclaimer: **Not mine, no sue…

**A/N:** So dude…I always chuckle when other authors write this, but then it happened to me. When I first came up with this concept it was supposed to be like…at most 2 parts, now here I am at part two and we haven't even gotten to the meat of the story yet. I don't foresee this becoming anything particularly epic, but I'm amused that it's gotten this long so quickly. Thanks to the people who have reviewed because that's the main reason I was able to update as soon as I did. Keep 'em coming if you want me to stay motivated. ;

Not As It Was

**Part 2:**

I was just supposed to be a little bit of studying together. Mid-terms were coming up, I still had a few things that I didn't quite understand, and Kairi was going to help me. Simple as that. So what if my parents weren't home and that the two of us were alone in the house? So what if she and I had been getting closer to one another since getting home to the Islands? So what if we were both sitting on my bed and she was leaning against me as she explained another proof to me? We were studying. That's all.

I'm not even sure how we got from math to making-out, but one of us had made a move somewhere in there, maybe we both had. Maybe we'd both been thinking about it for a long time, and maybe the tension in the air just forced us together. I don't know. What I do know is that her lips were soft and full, and the curves of her body were warm against the planes mine. I flung out a hand to tap the touch sensitive lamp sitting on the night stand beside us casting us in shadows, protected from wandering eyes, then I pulled her on top of me; held onto her trying to memorize every contour of her body.

There was so much in that kiss…things that neither of us had dared to voice. We'd been back on the Islands for over two months now, but we never really talked about our time away; about the fear; the desperate search for each other. Without Sora around, it had seemed somehow wrong, but in that moment, everything rushed out. I don't know…there was just something about the night I think. Some kind of…foreboding?...in the air, and we just needed…I can't explain it. We needed each other I guess. That's what it all came down to in the end. That's why we had all been separated for so long…because we needed each other. Sora could have gone back to the Islands with Kairi after we closed to door to Kingdom Hearts the first time, but he stayed back…to find me, to bring me back so that we _all_ could be together again. I didn't know it at the time, and I didn't want to be found then either, but after what the Organization did to him and me, I knew that I had to find him. I had to get him back, and then I would have to bring him back to Kairi. That had been my mission for a long while, but over time, I realized that even returning him home wouldn't be enough. It was more complicated than that. When I found Kairi with the Organization and when we found Sora, everything was suddenly just so…right. I knew then that it had to be us…all of us and always us…but then we came home.

I don't think that Sora or I were really prepared to come back. We'd spent the past two years of our lives fighting, and we hadn't really had time to think about what waited for us when we got home. First was the letter from King Mickey. Since the world borders were sealed once again, we were forbidden from telling anyone else about the other worlds we had visited. We all had to play it off as though we couldn't remember what had happened and that we were completely unaware of how long we'd been gone or what had transpired in our absence. It was easiest for Kairi who had only been missing for a couple of weeks in the eyes of her friends and family. No one remembered that first year when all the islands had been swallowed by darkness.

It was kind of awkward for me at first because I'd been gone so long and well…just a lot had happened in that time. I had changed in many ways, and had so much guilt to own up to, but at least I had Kairi as a buffer, and Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were just so glad to have me back that they didn't care. Then there was Sora…

We didn't really know how Sora was fairing because we didn't see much of him anymore. In the beginning we had tried to hang out together when we could, had study groups and things like that. But he had a lot of work to catch up on, and his parents were being pretty strict about him catching up to get to where he should be in school. They would let him hang out less and less and after the first month, we barely were able to even talk to him on the phone. The few times that we did see him, he seemed to be in fairly good spirits—I mean, this was Sora we were talking about. I don't think the kid even knows how to frown—but there was no way to be sure. We hoped that he was doing alright, believed in the light that had carried him through countless battles against impossible odds and brought him out alive, and figured that he'd come to us if he needed us. He'd managed fine without us for a long time. We figured one more year wouldn't be a problem for him, but I know that for Kairi and I both…his absence was conspicuous.

So I guess that after all that time of not saying anything, of not acknowledging the gap left in our hearts where Sora was supposed to be—not to mention a healthy dose of raging teenage hormones—we just… turned to each other. It was right and wrong and perfect but incomplete, but it was something, and we both needed something. So we took comfort and pleasure from each other, exploring mouths with lips, teeth and tongue, and I lost my self in the warmth of her light…so I'm sure you can imagine my shock and panic when I caught a sudden hint of darkness flitting over my senses. I was on my feet with my Way to the Dawn in hand before Kairi even knew what was going on. In the silence that followed we both heard the sound of something heavily impacting the ground below my window. I kept Kairi behind me and my blade as we both moved to the window, opened it and peered down. We released twin gasps of shock at what we saw because laying some ten feet below us in the shadow of the tree that he always used to get to my window lay a familiar figure in trademark yellow sneakers.

"Sora!" Kairi cried as I scrambled out the window and down the tree to our friend's side. I knew that this had something to do with the scent of darkness that I had picked up moments before, and I wanted to get him inside where we would be less vulnerable to attack. I was glad that my parents weren't home so that I wouldn't have to explain this to them.

Hoping that he wasn't seriously hurt and that I wasn't causing him any more harm by moving him, I reached down to pick him but was halted by shock before I could touch him. Now that I was closer to him, I could see him more clearly, and what neither Kairi nor I had noticed from my bedroom window was the fact that…he was blond.

"Roxas?" I muttered in confusion, a tight fist closing around my heart.

"What?" Kairi had come down through the house and was now standing behind me.

"Roxas." I repeated moving aside so that she could see him more clearly.

"But Riku," she began, a slight tremor in her voice, "What's he doing here? He's not supposed to be alone! What happened to Sora's heart?!" I looked down at the Nobody of my friend doing my best to keep a tight rein on the emotions that were threatening to send me into full out panic.

"I don't know."

We moved Roxas into my room, settled him on my bed, then waited. It was all we could do. We got back to our homework, stealing glances at the unconscious boy on my bed every few minutes to see if he was showing signs of waking. After a couple of hours had passed and he hadn't moved, we started to get worried.

"If he really fell from the branch outside your window, he could really be hurt." Kairi said gnawing on her bottom lip. "Maybe we should take him to the hospital."

"And how would we explain the fact that he has no pulse?" I asked massaging my temples as I tried to think. "No. This has to do with the outside, which means that we can't tell anyone else about it. We have to handle whatever's going on ourselves."

"Right." She said, sitting on the bed and smoothing a lock of messy hair from his brow. "I'm just worried, Riku. As usual, I don't know what's going on and I don't like it."

"It's going to fine, Kairi." I said walking over to her. "We've gotten through worse than this and come out ok."

"I hope you're right," she murmured, "but what do we do if he really is hurt?" It hit me then that I was being an idiot.

"Hey wait!" I said excitedly turning to my closet and digging into it. At the bottom of a mess of bags, shoes, and clothes rested the small duffle bag containing all of my memories of the outside. "I haven't needed this stuff since we got home, but maybe it'll still work." I dug out the most powerful potion I had in my possession still and tossed the Megalixir to Kairi. She looked at it perplexed at first, then a smile broke over her face as she understood what it was.

"Right!" She exclaimed uncorking the bottle and tilting Roxas' head back. She poured the liquid into her mouth, then pressed her lips to his helping him swallow the stuff. I stood back and watched expectantly, oddly un-phased by the intimate act. She sat there holding him in her arms. I stood beside them waiting. It took a couple of minutes, but he slowly began to stir and then he started coughing and Kairi reached to her side to grab the small cup of water we had set aside for him earlier.

"Easy," she murmured handing him the cup, "just breathe for a second. You're ok now." He took the water from her and sipped at it carefully before swallowing the cup down in two quick gulps. He finally raised his eyes to us and took in his surroundings looking down at himself, eyes growing wide in dawning horror and realization. I know that I should have been patient and given him time to get his head straight, but I wasn't exactly thrilled to see the guy, and I had been waiting for over two hours to find out what had happened to my best friend, and watching him sit there taking his sweet time to figure himself out just set me off I guess.

"Roxas, what the hell are you doing here? What happened to Sora?!" At this his eyes snapped fully into focus, zeroing in on me, and in the span of a heartbeat that was almost audible, a fury was raging in his eyes so intense it sent me reeling. He pulled himself roughly from Kairi's grip and moved away from the bed to stand glaring angrily at both of us.

"That's what I'd like to know!" he said fists clenching at his sides. "I came here for help and I was whole. Now suddenly I'm nobody again! You two were supposed to help me, so why don't YOU tell ME what happened?!?!"

"Roxas, we don't know!" Kairi cried quickly standing to her feet. "We were in here…" she tailed off blushing "…then we heard something fall outside and we looked down and it was you. We don't know anything else!" He was shaking his head now, looking to the floor, eyes slightly unfocused as if he were trying to remember something. I realized then that he was doing just that; trying to remember what had happened which meant…that he still had clear memories of being Sora.

"No…" he said squeezing his eyes shut in concentration. "You were…you were." He looked up then and there was visible pain shining from his eyes. "Both of you…you…you were…" he trailed of dropping his eyes once again, and I could have sworn that it was Sora standing in front of us looking so lost and defeated. A lump was forming in my throat so big I thought my heart was actually trying to work its way up out of my chest to get to him and offer comfort.

"You left me behind." He finally whispered and I thought I saw a single tear fall from his right eye. Silence descended upon the room like an avenging angel as Kairi and I took in those words. He had seen us. He had come to us for help and he found us…but it wasn't what he was thinking! He didn't know, didn't understand…but then again, how could he?

"Roxas…we—" Kairi began, stepping towards him, trying to explain. But just as quickly as it had come before, his fury was back, and he directed it full force at Kairi now. My heart swiftly settled back in place.

"Don't, ok! Just don't!" he exploded, stepping away from her. "It's too late now! Too late for apologies, too late for the islands, too late for all of this!"

"Too late for the Islands?" I said turning to him. I knew that Roxas even being there meant that there were Heartless around somewhere, but with the door to darkness sealed, there couldn't be that many of them, and with no one controlling them, they would be laughably easy to defeat. There's no way that they could pose a threat to the Islands. He had to be exaggerating.

"That's being a little extreme, don't you think?" I told him, raising an eyebrow and quirking a smile. "I don't know how Heartless found their way back into the Islands, but if they're here, then we'd better go out and help clean up." I tried to step past Roxas to get to the door, but he flung out an arm in front of me to stop my progress.

"What, are you blind or just stupid?" He asked me, and that really set me off. I was already too tense and just wasn't in the mood to play games with him.

"Listen, Rox-_ass_," I sneered keeping my voice level carefully controlled, "you may be half of Sora, but you are not him. I have little patience for you, so move your arm now before I have to move it for you." He glared at me, but did move his arm, crossing it with his other arm across his chest. I quirked another smirk as I tried again to step past him, but this time he stepped into my path still glaring up at me.

"What the hell is your problem?!?!!" I snapped at him. "I don't know how you two got separated again, but Sora is probably out there fighting right now and he's going to need back up! I'd think that you of all people would want to go find your Other!"

"Oh and I do," he said in that all too calm calculating voice that was altogether _not_ Sora. "Now that I understand and remember what it is to be whole, believe me, there's no one in this world who wants to find my O ther more."

"Then why are you stopping us?" I asked. Our faces were a hand's width apart, eyes locked in a test of wills that I knew this heart-less replica of my friend could easily win. Imagine my shock when he turned away from me avoiding my eyes.

"Because I don't think you realize what you're actually looking for." The fist from earlier was clinching around my heart again, but I still couldn't see–refused to see–what it was trying to tell me. I was stepping forward and reaching out an arm to force Roxas to speak plainly, to tell me exactly what he meant by that when I was halted by a heartbroken sob coming from across the room. Kairi was sitting there, on my bed, tears streaming from her eyes shaking her head in denial.

"No," she sobbed. "You're wrong. He's stronger than that. He would never—"

"But he has," Roxas said leveling his eyes again at Kairi, "and you already know it." This earned another bout of shaking sobs from my friend and I finally managed to get my head out of my ass and go to her. I sad down, gathering her to me and tried to help her calm herself so that I could ask her what was going on. Clearly I wasn't going to get any straight answers out of the Nobody of my other friend, and I was still trying to hold on to the confusion that wouldn't let me see the truth.

"Kairi, what's wrong. Why are you crying?" I asked, but she ignored me and turned her eyes back to Roxas.

"How?" She asked, and there was more strength than I would have expected in her voice. Roxas just looked at her, what would have been a haunted sadness glowing in his eyes.

"It started when we first go back." He began. "There was a seed in his heart, like there is in all hearts. When he was out fighting the darkness and searching for you," his eyes flashed to me for a moment indicating that 'you' referred to both Kairi and myself, "you were the buffer against it; the hope of finding you, the determination not to fail. All of those strong emotions protected him from it. He was always surrounded by light then, so the seed had no place to take root…it just existed."

"Could one of you tell me what the hell you're talking about?!" I asked, getting frustrated now. Were they intentionally trying to leave me oblivious? Apparently so because Roxas just kept talking, ignoring my question.

"But when we got home, everything was so…different. There was just so much that didn't make sense anymore and for the first time in a long time…I started doubting myself. Then there was school and my parents and all the memories of Outside and the message from the King and well…the seed had taken root, and it had been growing. I didn't even fully realize what was happening until tonight…and then…" Kairi was shaking in my arms and I looked down at her, still refusing to understand.

"Why didn't he say anything?" she whispered against my chest, more to herself than anything I think. "Why didn't he come to us?" Whether the question was meant as one or not, Roxas answered.

"Because he couldn't bring himself to dim your happiness," he said bitterly. "You know his heart; it's his greatest strength and greatest weakness. He didn't have the heart to tell you these things," he gave a humorless chuckle at the bad pun, "but where he couldn't, I don't have the same limitations holding me back."

"Shut-up." I told him angrily. I didn't want to hear what he had to say and he was only upsetting Kairi. If these were Sora's words, then I'd hear them from Sora. _All_ of him, dammit!

"You two were my best friends!" he hissed out at us, and I couldn't deny the truth in his voice no matter how much I wanted to. "I did everything for you; risked EVERYTHING for you! But where were you when I needed help, huh?! Where were you when I needed someone to reach out to ME?!" Kairi and I sat there in silence, chastised. We were both lost in our own thoughts, but he wasn't done, and his voice was low and full of pain when he spoke again. "Did it ever occur to either of you, even for a moment, that maybe, I might have needed a little of the support that the two of you were so blissfully giving to each other?"

The question struck like a blow and I flinched at it. Of course we didn't think Sora needed our support. He was Sora. He had single handedly defeated me when I was possessed by the Heartless of a psychopath, stopped all of the most powerful creatures that the darkness could throw at him, saved countless worlds from being swallowed by darkness, and pulled Kairi and I both out of impossible situations, all done with a determined smile firmly in place. Sora could do anything he set his mind to, and he didn't need anyone else in order to do it…right?

"You didn't say anything," Kairi ground out after another long silence, frustration coloring her voice. "We asked if you were doing alright, we made sure to check on you, but you always said you were fine; always smiled for us. We didn't know! How could we help you if you didn't let us know you needed us?!?" Roxas, the body and soul of one of the best friends I had ever known, stared coolly down at us, unmoved by the emotion in her voice. When he spoke again, there was no hint of emotion in his voice, and I felt Kairi shudder at the sound.

"I can't speak for the logic of decisions made by the heart; that is an area that I was never meant to understand. There is one thing that is clear to me, however." I shut my eyes at this, willing him to stop. I knew that the words he was about to speak would shatter my illusions that everything was fine; that we could go out and find Sora and everything would be back to normal again. I willed him to not be there; to not exist and so, not be able to speak the words that he was about to speak. He kept going, I slumped my shoulders in defeat, and a part of me died a little as he spoke.

"My heart was consumed by darkness," he said, "not freely given, and not forcibly taken away. My other is a Heartless with the face of your friend, and to set him free, you will have to destroy him."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Meh…lot's of….yeah. Stuff. Well…this chap wasn't exactly exciting, but I felt the need to add a bit more…explanation I guess. I'm not even sure about that whole thing with Riku and Kairi making-out. I'm sure it made perfect sense in Riku's head tho…Things should be more interesting next chapter…I think. And disturbingly enough, I'm still not sure how this whole drama's going to end. Guess we'll find out! I'll be just as surprised as you all. . 

Just to clarify some things regarding Roxas. In case I didn't make this clear, Roxas has his memories of being Sora completely intact this time around. There are parts in there where he speaks of Sora in third-person then jumps right into first-person in the next sentence. That was intentional. I figure that he'll have some difficulty with his pronouns for a bit seeing as he remembers some things that he had no part of (i.e. anything that happened during chain of memories) and other things he was whole for (i.e. the whole mess w/ Riku and Kairi.) If you're confused…good. There's nothing straightforward about the Heartless/Nobody phenomenon—especially when dealing with Sora and Roxas—and I'm hoping to get that across in this.

Please **review** and let me know what you think. It means a lot and keeps me writing. Thanx!


	3. Chapter 3

**Standard Disclaimer: **Not mine! Go talk to Squeenix!

**Notes:** So here we are at part 3 of a story that was originally gonna be a one-shot. It's still not gonna be terribly long, but still…funny. Thanks, thanks, a thousand times thanks to my beta **Lokotei.** She makes life happy…and you readers too so you don't have to suffer through my typos. Eternal thank yous to my reviewers. You're the ones who keep me writing. Anyhoo…we get to see Sora again this chapter. YAY!! Enjoy.

Not As It Was

**Part 3:**

I knew what he said was true but I still didn't want to believe it. When Roxas finally spoke the words, it felt like death. I stopped breathing, my pulse was painfully slow, my vision faded and the world was suddenly mute of sound. I know the moment didn't last long, but in my mind, and in my heart, it was an eternity. Sora was Heartless. He was out there now one of the mindless creatures that had tried to consume this world and many others not that long ago. He had fought for so long against the damn things, but now, he was one of them…and it was up to us to stop him.

When I recovered from that odd moment of death, I felt so….calm. My heart was still aching and my head was spinning, but the tears suddenly stopped and I took a deep breath to steady myself further. I pulled away from Riku, ran a hand through my hair, then stood to face Roxas and set a few things straight.

"Alright." I said in a voice as eerily calm as I felt. "We can't deny that what you said is true. I think Riku and I both knew it the moment we realized you were here and not Sora." I took a breath trying to control the pain in my head and chest. "We're the only ones who can stop him now, but…" I stepped back to include Riku in my range of vision. I knew they both needed to hear this and understand clearly, because as much as I loved them, they were both extremely negative people and I knew that they were both probably already drawing their individuals baths of angst preparing for a good soak. I leveled a glare to make sure they were listening. "…this is not over. We will not _kill _him. You both have Keyblades. You both can fight darkness, and if we can get enough of Sora back to remember who he is, we can still salvage his heart.

"Kairi it doesn't _work_ that way," Roxas said, a hint of anger coloring his voice. "Xemnas spent enough time studying the Heartless to know. Once a heart has been consumed, there's nothing left. That's what we are," he said grabbing at his chest where his heart used to be, "the nothing left over when our heart is lost. All my heart is now is the energy fueling that thing out there and when we kill it, that energy will just go drifting through darkness yet again until enough is collected to form Kingdom Hearts all over. The part of you that was Naminé _knows _this Kairi. You know that this is—"

"Don't tell me what I do or don't know!" I snapped. "I don't know that anything that Xemnas said was true. I don't know about Nobodies and darkness or any of it!" I stepped towards Roxas again reaching out a hand to cup is cheek.

"What I do know is this," I said giving his head a little shake. 'I'm not touching nothing right now," I told him, and he closed his eyes against the look I was giving him. He tried to turn his face away, but I wouldn't let him, so I saw the tear that escaped his eye and traced its way slowly down his cheek.

"And this," I said rubbing the tear away with a thumb. "If Nobodies truly can't feel, then explain the pain you're feeling right now…explain the emptiness, the sorrow, the frustration—"

"Memories of—"

"Don't give me that!" I interrupted before he could go off on the whole 'memories of emotion' deal. "Y'know, it's too bad Ansem and Xemnas and the rest of the idiots who started this mess were so preoccupied with studying the heart. Otherwise, they might have found that the soul of a person is just as capable of feeling as the heart is, and that there is no greater power in the world than being able to believe in something with all of your heart _and_ soul." He just stared at me in confusion, not daring to believe what I said. I looked to Riku for a little support, but his sea-green eyes were averted, hidden behind a curtain of silver hair. I dropped my hand from Roxas' face and threw my hands up in exasperation.

"Don't you get it?" They both needed to understand this if we were going to save Sora. I was desperate for them to hear me; it just felt like we were running out of time. "That's what was so special about us, the reason none of us fell completely into darkness while we were out there. It goes beyond having a strong heart. It's about believing in something with everything that you are. Riku, you believed in yourself. When they tried to take my heart, I believed in Sora, but Sora…he believed in _us;_ that we would all be together again one day, and that's what gave him the strength to do what he did. All of the impossible things he managed happened because he never gave up on the hope…no, the _certainty_ that he would find us both and we would go home together." Both boys were staring at me now and I couldn't read the expressions on their faces so I just bulled on.

"Well…we screwed up a little," I said the passion in my voice dying down a bit. "We got home but we lost Sora along the way somehow, and when that happened, Sora lost the defense that had protected him for so long so…" I reached out and grabbed Riku's hand pulling him to his feet and bringing him to stand with me next to Roxas. "…now it's our turn. We have to believe that we can get him back. We have to _know_ it without doubt. We weren't there for him when he needed us," I said speaking just to Riku now. "We have to fix that now. We have to bring him back." I looked into Riku's eyes searching them for signs that he really understood what I was trying to get across to him. The spark of confidence that had been flickering on and off lately was again burning brightly in his eyes.

"You're right, Kairi," he told me squeezing my hand as it still held his. "Let's go knock some sense into his Heartless ass and put _this_ heart-less ass back together again."

"Hey!" Roxas only slightly bristled at Riku's casual jab. "I'm still half of your best friend, here."

"Which, as you should know then, only makes you an ass _and_ a loser." I breathed a sigh of relief as the two boys bickered with each other. There was a lot more of Sora in Roxas this time around and I think that was setting Riku a bit more at ease. He was already less snippy with Roxas than he had been earlier and I knew that if we were going to work together to save Sora's heart, the two would have to be able to tolerate each other.

"So then we're agreed," I said taking Roxas' hand too. "We're gonna go, and we're gonna find Sora, and we're gonna get his heart back. Right?!" I got a mumble of somewhat affirmatives and sank my nails into both boys' hands. "_Right?!!_" I repeated, and I they were much more enthusiastic about their responses the second time around. "Good," I said satisfied, releasing their hands. "So…where do we start?"

"Well this island isn't that big," Riku said rubbing at my claw marks. "We could probably just sniff him out. There can't be many Heartless around, and I'd recognize that stench anywhere."

"I think we have a higher priority," Roxas commented dryly, "and I think it'll be a likely place to find him too. Since this world is locked off from the outside, his power is limited. There's not enough darkness."

"You think he'll try to open the Door again." Riku said, eyes narrowing in what I read as concern.

"It's what I'd do," came Roxas' reply, and the irony of the comment was lost on none of us.

"We have to get to the island!" I said already heading for the door, and this time there were no arguments.

o-oOo-o

The night was dark as we made our way to the docks…a little too dark, I thought, and a little too quiet. We were nearing the end of Fall, so the temperatures at night were getting a bit more chilly and I shivered in my thin sweater wishing I had thought to grab one of Riku's sweatshirts instead. There was mist hanging low on the water as we climbed down into our boat making it difficult to see, but we had made this journey a thousand times. We didn't need high visibility in order to get to our little island, and there was enough light from the moon to allow our night vision to serve well enough.

The trip across the water was silent aside from the sound of working oars. It only served to make me more nervous than I already had been. We had all crowded into a single boat deciding against separating under the circumstances. I sat holding onto Riku and Roxas' bags of supplies while the two boys rowed. We had taken a quick stop at Sora's house making sure not to disturb his parents while we grabbed his bag of things from the Outside and I just sat now musing over the items and materials I held in my lap. Could any of it help us get Sora back?

When we finally reached the small pier of our small island, I was shaking from both cold and fear. The island was too quiet. I'd been there tons of times at night, and it was always teaming with life, but now…it was as if the world was holding its breath, hoping that if it didn't move, it wouldn't be noticed by the thing lurking in the dark.

"This place reeks of darkness," Riku said under his breath, but the sound, quiet as it had been, still screamed through the silence of the night. We docked our boat, climbing up the ladder and tying it off as we mentally prepared ourselves for the trial ahead of us.

"Let's go," I said walking the familiar path from the dock to the Secret Place, but I didn't make it far. The temperature seemed to drop dangerously, sending an almost violent shiver through my body, and when I had recovered, he was there. It was Sora, and if it weren't for the fact that Roxas was standing somewhere just up the dock behind me, I wouldn't have known that there was anything wrong with him. He was standing there, illuminated by pale moonlight, smiling his trademark grin, hands comfortably folded behind his head. I hadn't expected him to look so…normal. It had completely thrown me off.

"Hey!" he said brightly, "What took you guys so long? I've been waiting for hours. C'mon!" He reached out a hand to grab my arm and there were suddenly two Keyblades crossed in front of me blocking his advance. My brain finally reengaged and I managed a small step back as I re-collected my wits.

"Don't touch her," Riku growled dangerously.

"Hey, easy," Sora said, giving his best hurt puppy pout. "I wasn't gonna hurt her or anything. What's wrong with you guys?"

"Hello!" Roxas said from my side, waving his free arm in the gathering darkness. "You're Heartless."

"Well, duh," Sora crossed his arms and gave us all looks like we were idiots. "And you guys came to fix me, right? So come on." With that he turned and headed off into the night. What could we do but follow? We had after all come to find him in the first place. Riku, Roxas and I shared confused glances as we headed off into the dark after the heartless of our friend.

"Well…" I whispered flicking on my flashlight as we lost the light from the moon, "Didn't King Mickey say that people with strong hearts don't lose their minds even after they become Heartless? Maybe he's really ok."

"Not likely," Riku growled and I followed his gaze to see what he was glowering at. My heart sank. Sora was now patiently waiting for us in front of the entrance to the Secret Place, eyes flashing that impossible blue in the light of my beam. He smiled brightly again, beckoning us forward, but we all froze where we were.

"Why do you want to go in there Sora?" I asked quietly directing my light into the opening of the cave.

"So that we can open the door." He said it as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"And why the hell would we do that?" Riku snapped. Sora looked at him mutely for a moment, eyebrows furrowing.

"So that we can fix me." His head tilted to the side as he said this. "Why else would I be here?" I looked at Riku who was narrowing his eyes at the creature in front of us who seemed so much like our friend and shook his head to the side just slightly.

"No way," he said with an air of finality. "We don't need to open that door to fix you, so step away from the cave."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sora snapped angrily, and I thought I saw a flash of yellow in his eyes. I ignored it, thinking it was a trick of the light. "Don't you trust me to know what I'm talking about?"

"We don't _trust_ you at all," Riku bit out, and I watched as Sora broke at those words. I suddenly had a very bad feeling about the whole situation. This was Sora! He had the strongest spirit I had ever known, the brightest light I had ever seen. What if we were wrong about this? What if Sora was still just Sora and he really was just trying to get himself put back together? His eyes were shining with tears as he looked away from Riku and focused on Roxas and me.

"The same go for you two?" he asked in a shaking voice, and my heart ached at the pain I saw radiating form every part of him. Heartless didn't feel pain did they? They didn't cry. I could see Sora shining from the night dimmed depths of his eyes, and my heart clenched in indecision. I didn't know what to say and Roxas just continued silently glaring at him, Keyblade in hand. A few of the tears that had been shining in Sora's eyes spilled over as he drew a shaky breath.

"Fine," he said, fighting to keep his voice steady. "I should have known. I came to you guys for help before and I see where _that_ got me. It's your fault I'm Heartless now anyway, why would I think that you would actually want to fix this, even thought I'm standing here _asking_ for your help!" He took an anguished step forward, focusing on me when he spoke next. "Do you think I _want_ to be like this?!?! THIS IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE!!!! The darkness has been eating away at everything that I am but you can't even—" he cut himself off, stepping back and running a hand through his hair, taking a calming breath.

"But fine. Whatever. I thought that I wouldn't have to fight alone anymore, but I see that I was wrong. I obviously can't count on you guys for help, not even my goddamned Other, so I'll take care of this alone too," and with a final broken sob, he turned and dashed into the cave, shadow distorting freakishly in the beam of my flashlight.

"Sora, wait!" I called after him dashing into the cave. We were wrong. We had to be wrong, and we were failing him again. I couldn't let him go off thinking that he was alone in this. Riku and Roxas were at my heels as I ran after our friend, bouncing flashlight beams twisting everything in our eyes, making shadows seem alive. I knew that Riku and Roxas were following for different reasons than I was, but I didn't care. I just knew that I had to get to Sora…I couldn't let him down again; not after all he had given to help us before. They didn't believe in Sora, but I did. I knew that our friend was still there, and that he was hurting.

We found him crouching in front of the cave etching he and I had made all those years ago, hands clutching at the wall as his body shook with sobs. Seeing him there like that, my heart tore a little, and I knew I had to go to him.

"Kairi, NO!" I heard Riku cry as I threw my arms around Sora who was shaking as he tried to contain his tears, but I ignored him. Sora was what was important. Sora needed us. If Riku wouldn't be there for Sora, then I would. I would bring him back to us.

"Why can't you believe in him, Riku?" I asked holding on tighter and rubbing at his back to get some friction going as Sora turned in my arms. His skin was so cold. "Why can't you—" I froze at the feel of cool metal pressed at my throat. My heart gave a painful throb as Sora looked up at me, face illuminated by the light of my abandoned flashlight, which lay beside us on the cave floor. Gone were the sparking sky-blue sapphires that I know I had just seen minutes ago. In their place was an almost cheery yellow that stood in stark contrast against the two black pinpricks of extremely contracted pupils.

"No," I sobbed as I realized I'd been tricked. "NO!"

"Oh, c'mon Kairi. Don't tell me you actually fell for any of that!" he said, mocking me lightly as if it were a casual joke, as if he weren't holding a weapon to my neck. "Riku wasn't buyin' it for a second, were you Riku?" he laughed. "Maybe someone should learn to trust in her friends a little more." I couldn't keep the tears from escaping. The whole situation was making less and less sense. It was still Sora. The gestures, the tone of voice, the cheery smile…it was all the boy that I cared so much about, but somehow….it was all twisted now, mocking us all. There was no warmth in his eyes and only malice in his smile and just looking at him was tearing me apart from the inside. In a flash of movement, he had us standing facing Riku and Roxas who were both now brandishing their Keyblades dangerously. My back was pressed to his chest and I felt his blade press more firmly against my neck as he threw his free hand out in front of him in a placating gesture.

"Now don't be mad," he told the other two boys who both visible tensed at the words. "I wasn't lying when I said that you can't fix me without opening the door. This lame ass world barely has enough energy to sustain itself. If you tried drawing enough power from it to bond me and blondie over there, you'd just end up fucking things up even worse than you already have."

"Then why even bother waiting for us?" I asked through my tears. "Why not just open to door and get it over with? Or is this just some kind of sick joke to you?" The Heartless of Sora gave a little laugh and took in a breath to answer me, but before he could, another voice spoke first.

"He can't." It took me a moment to realize that the voice belonged to Roxas. He hadn't said much since we had left for the island, but now is blue eyes were blazing with a fury that he wasn't supposed to be able to feel as he glared at the thing that was holding me captive. "He's only half a Keyblade Master. Without me, he doesn't have the power to open the door on his own."

"Wow! So you really do have half a brain in there." The Heartless Sora said with a cheerful chuckle. "Then I'll bet that you already figured out that if you guys hadn't come here, I'd be royally screwed. And that you're going to help me open this door…unless of course you're really dying to see first hand what a Keyblade can do to Kairi here." Terror shot through my body as he tightened the blade against my throat and a strange tingling sensation began moving over my body, increasing in intensity until every nerve in me was screaming in a thousand unnamable sensations. It crossed my mind to say something brave, to tell them not to open that door no matter what happened to me, but the world phased out of existence for a time, and when I came back, my throat was raw from screaming and both Riku and Roxas looked like they were about to vomit all over the cave floor.

"So, what's it gonna be?" The voice behind me still spoke in the same disturbingly casual voice as if we were debating over dinner plans on a Friday night, but I couldn't seem to work up any energy to feel…anything about it. It had taken me a moment, but I realized suddenly that I felt as bad as Riku and Roxas looked, and all I could do was stand there, shaking.

"Fine," Roxas croaked out. "We'll open the door together, just please don't do that again."

"Do what? This?" I heard come from behind me just before my nerves were set on fire once again. I was fortunate enough to be completely present for it the second time around. "Oops! Sorry, Kairi." I remember hearing through a haze of agony that was slow to fade and watched as Riku and Roxas had a small scuffle, Riku trying to attack the Heartless thing behind me, Roxas holding him back. Keeping a restraining arm out across Riku's front, Roxas lifted his Keyblade to the strange door that stood in the back of the cave without another word. The cold metal that was pressed against my neck was replaced by an even colder hand, and the other Keyblade was lifted to add its power to opening the door.

There was a burst of light and a rush of cold and then I was falling to the ground of the cave, barely aware of anything that was happening around me. There were warm hands grabbing me, clutching me to warm bodies, but my brain was too confused to piece everything together. There was laughter then, and a strange pulsing sensation through the air.

"That's much better!" a happy voice chirped from somewhere near-by and I struggled to pull myself together enough to at least be aware of my surroundings. "I feel like my old self again!" The voice said taking in a deep breath. "But _man_ this blade is lame. I don't suppose you guys brought any of my key chains with you?" The question was met by silence as I struggled into a more or less upright position. "Whatever," that cheery, familiar voice continued. "I'm sure I can find something lying around…"

I regained awareness just in time to see a monster with the face of one of my best friends level a Keyblade at me and the two figures hovering protectively around me. With a more than slightly malicious grin, he spoke one word:

"Stop."

We were all frozen where we were. I could still hear and see everything that was going on around me, but I couldn't move, my body held in the grasp of some powerful spell.

"What have we here?" 'Sora' said leaning over me and eyeing me with those disturbing yellow eyes. "The heart of such a pretty princess should make a really cool statement," he beamed, then a hand that was no longer substantial, but made instead of sublimating black tendrils appeared before my eyes. I thought I heard a muffled sound from one of my other companions, but I couldn't be sure, because in the next instant, the black claw-like hand was buried in my chest. I was suddenly released from the spell, but all I could do was look down in confusion at the putrid claw now buried inside of me. I looked up, shaking, at the thing hovering over me, fresh tears slipping from my eyes in numb horror.

"Yoink!" he said with a wink, then there was a pulling, ripping sensation, and the world was lost to me.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

**A/N:** Man…I apparently like ending chapters with really crappy things happening. Well…I kinda have no choice in this case and in the case of the first part since we can't really continue in a character's perspective once they are no longer aware of anything.

Anyhoo…Next part will be from Roxas' POV and that should be the last chapter. I guess I should warn you now…you might hate me for this story in the end…or maybe not. Guess we'll just have to see. Either way, don't you love happy-evil Sora? He's so cute!

**Reviews** are dreams I have at night where people actually care about my efforts and writing drive. Make my dreams reality. Just press the button -smile-


	4. Chapter 4

**Standard Disclaimer: **Not mine…I just like to lick'em:9

**A/N: ** So wow! It's done! I completely didn't see this coming when the original idea struck me, but all in all, I'm pleased. Half way through writing this, I started to hate it because of the massive angst-fest it was, but I had to follow the scenario to it's logical end…and well, I'm glad I did. It needed to be finished.

A thousand times thanks to **Lokotei** for poking at me to get this chapter out and sending speedy and relevant thoughts on the story and writing and fixing the odd typos that escape my own proofing. And a thousand times thanks to those of you who **review** and remind me why I bother doing this at all. Anyway, enjoy.

Please **review** and let me know what you think.

Not As It Was

**Part 4:**

We should have stopped her. Riku and I both knew that something was up. We had dealt with Heartless before, knew how they operated, but Kairi hadn't. She didn't know how they played on emotion, preyed on weakness. She didn't know that she was being manipulated. We should have held her back, kept ourselves between her and my Other, but we didn't. We had both been so focused on the Heartless in front of us that we never thought to keep an eye on Kairi.

I…I can't even really figure out everything that happened in those moments before we opened the Door. We were running and then he had her and she was screaming and he was just smiling like it was some kind of game…like he was just playing with us. And that was it in the end. That's exactly what he was doing. Playing; laughing; enjoying it all, and the sight of it made me wither inside. I could feel that place where my heart was supposed to be trying very hard to throb in remembered emotion, and the rest of me…every part of me was vibrating in desperate need to find a way to fix this. It was me standing there doing these things…part of me mocking and smiling, but there was nothing I could do to stop the other half of myself. I wanted to scream!

When he kept hurting Kairi, I knew that there was only one thing I could do to save her. I think Riku completely lost it in there somewhere. He tried to rush my Other with no regard for Kairi's safety. I almost lost the fight to hold him back, but I managed somehow and lifted my blade, focusing its power to the task of unlocking the Door. Sora did the same.

It took more than I expected to open the Door, but as the lock was freed and the seal broken, energy pulsed through the cave flooding light and darkness into the Destiny Islands. I felt the energy fill me and was momentarily dazed by the feeling. It was like waking from a waking dream. Everything that had seemed so surreal before came into sharp focus and reality. Then Kairi was falling and Sora was smiling. Riku was shaking with barely contained fury and we both rushed forward to get Kairi to safety. Riku checked her condition while I kept and eye on my Other.

I'm pretty sure that Riku was also feeling the disorienting rush that came with the flood of power, but as it seemed, Sora wasn't phased by it at all. He began speaking, taunting us, and I just watched him, listening as Riku tried to pull Kairi out of her stupor. He was saying something about getting a new key chain, but before my brain could fully register his intent, he was casting his magic. Stop.

We were frozen. Time had stopped around us, but we were still consciously aware of what was happening around us. A chill ran through me as he turned his attention to Kairi and Riku made a sound that told me he was almost hurting himself with the effort to release himself from the spell. Sora just smiled down at all of us as he plunged his hand into Kairi's chest. She released a choked gasp the like of which I hope never to hear again, and then she was jerking spastically, then crumbling to the floor unmoving.

I knew the spell had to be wearing off soon and I waited, focusing all of my attention on my Other as he cradled a glowing light in his hand. He smiled a smile that was entirely too excited under the circumstances as he merged the light with his Keyblade. In a flash of brightness, the blade transformed, a sparkling key chain appearing at its end in the shape of a split, misaligned heart. Half was pink, half was white, and from the whole radiated a dull, pulsing, blood red glow.

A word seemed to whisper through the air at the birth of the new Keyblade, and I felt my soul shudder in disgust as the name Oathbreaker was seared into my mind indefinitely.

"Now, that's cool," Sora said admiring the delicate lattice work of the black, semi-transparent blade, the glowing read and silver of the hand guard, and the raw power that radiated from the thing.

"Who knew that Kairi had it in her?" he chuckled, scratching his head. I could feel the spell slipping…knew it would release at any moment. "Heh, can't wait to try this puppy out." He looked up, a truly maniacal gleam in his yellow eyes. "Time to go visit the 'rents."

He faded into the darkness around us just as the spell wore off, and Riku released a near inhuman roar of rage as our prey escaped.

"Oh God, Kairi!" he moaned falling to her side yet again. I did likewise noting the pale, grayish color of her skin in the dim light of our flashes, and a sense of something very akin to horror seeped through my veins as I realized what lay before us.

"She's not Naminé," I said, quietly looking down at her.

"What?" Riku snapped angrily glaring at me. Any warmth that he had been showing me seemed to have vanished along with my Other.

"She's not Naminé," I repeated glaring right back. "If he had just taken her heart, then she would be Naminé now," I explained with as much patience as I could manage. "She's not. This is just her body, which means that he took both her heart and her soul to make that thing.

"Well what does that matter, we're getting Kairi back either way!"

"It matters because a body can't live for long on its own without a heart or a soul." Riku's eyes went completely dead of emotions as I told him this. He looked back down at the still form lying between us and didn't look up as he spoke next.

"Are you telling me she's dead?" I sighed running a hand though my hair as I tried to organize my thoughts.

"Not yet," I told him. "But she will be if we don't hurry." He was on his feet hefting Kairi's body and walking towards the cave exit without another word. I followed after him. We moved in silence to the dock, the night completely dark now, void of moonlight even. I called my Ultimaweapon and used its light to see by since we left the flashlights in the cave and came up beside Riku who was staring down at the place where we had docked our boat. I followed his gaze and saw…water. Just water. Our boat was gone.

"Can you open a corridor?" he asked without looking up.

"I don't belong to the darkness anymore," I told him flatly. "I can't control it that way now." He had already turned to me, dropping Kairi carefully in my arms.

"Wait here," he told me, then walked back the way we had come, fading into the darkness of the still and quiet night. So I waited. I had an idea of what he was going to do, and I didn't like it at all, but we had no time. Our options were limited, and this time, Kairi's life was on the line along with the fate of this world and every other world out there. Risks had to be taken.

I stepped a bit from the edge of the dock and sat down, carefully adjusting Kairi in my lap. I listened to the swirling of the water below me, the gentle crash of waves, and after what seemed like no time at all, Riku was back. Again, without a word, he opened a corridor through darkness, took Kairi from me, and stepped through the rippling black of the portal. I followed, and we stepped out into Riku's room. He was already settling Kairi on his bed, gently brushing stray hairs from her face.

"You know," I was startled when Riku's voice suddenly broke the silence, "it seems only fitting that things would end this way. I started this…I brought it all here. So now it's up to me to end it." I didn't like the sound of his voice as he said that. There was something off, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. It was almost like he was trying to convince himself of something, forcing his words to say something that his heart didn't really want.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked trying to get a hold of the truth behind his words.

"It means I have to end this," he growled out, "so let's end it." With that, he stood and opened another corridor without looking back to see if I was following.

When I stepped out on the other side, I was surrounded by chaos. We were standing in the wreckage of a home…what used to be my home. I looked down in fascination at what was left of the dining room table where I had been sitting just hours before and tried to suppress the strange tingling that rushing across my skin.

The place was crawling with Heartless, Shadows climbing over the wreckage like maggots on a carcass. The destruction was insane. If all he wanted was our parents, then there was no need to completely tear the place apart, but there was not a wall left unbroken, not a single object in the house spared, and all of it had been done in the few minutes it had taken us to get from the island to the house.

We barely paid attention to the minor Heartless we encountered; they were mosquitoes in comparison to the very large bloodthirsty dragon we were hunting and barely worth the effort. Every one that was stupid enough to try to attack us fell with pathetic ease to our blades as we searched for signs of where my Other could have gone.

Of our parents, there was no sign.

"Where would he go next?" Riku asked no one in particular, because he really wasn't speaking to me much for whatever reason.

"He's looking for revenge," I told him. "He's pissed at a lot of people for a lot of reasons, and I don't think he's leaving the islands until he's personally seen to it that they all are punished." Riku eyed me like a puppy that had started spouting Shakespeare before asking:

"Where do you think he's gone?"

"My best guess," I said thinking back to all the kids who had avoided and ignored me, "the school."

"Why would he go there at this time of night? There's no one there."

"Why would he destroy our entire house if he was just going after our parents? Why would he leave us alive when he had every opportunity to kill us back in the cave? He's playing with us Riku, and he's playing with his new 'toy.' He's just destroying things for the fun of it, and I think that maybe he's hoping that we'll find him, so that he can play with us more." Riku eyed me critically for a moment before turning away and lifting his hand to open a new portal.

"Only one way to find out." He said vanishing into the darkness yet again. I was worried about how much he was using dark energy even if it had only been less than an hour. It consumes you as you use it. The more power that you allow to channel through you, the more of you that is channeled away, and it's only a matter of time before you belong completely to the darkness. Riku had escaped that fate just barely before, but he still lost a lot of himself before he was pulled back from that spiraling edge. Back then, he had friends to help him; powerful allies from the side of light. Those friends were no longer here though, and without them he seemed to be almost willingly plunging further and further into the abyss. I was all he had left and I hardly felt that I was qualified to pull anyone back from darkness. That was job for my heart…and as things were, he was more likely to pull Riku right in with him if given half a chance. I sighed heavily knowing that things were going to get a whole lot worse before they got better, if they ever got better again that is.

The school grounds where disturbingly quiet as we arrived. Everything was still in the darkness that had gathered just as they had been when we first landed at our little island. We walked across the field towards the main building searching for shadows within shadows, eyes straining to look in every direction at once, but we could see nothing. I intensified the light from my Keyblade, but it only served to deepen the shadows. He was staying hidden from us, but I still knew that he was there.

"Sora!" I called into the stillness. "We know you're here so stop hiding!"

"Hiding? Who's hiding?" His voice seemed to speak from the night itself. Riku and I both shifted uncomfortably, trying to identify where the attack would come from. We stood back-to-back, blades drawn and ready to attack.

"I'm right here, if you guys are smart enough to find me." He was taunting us again.

"Besides, why should I hide from you?" This time the voice seemed to whisper directly into my ear, cool breath ruffling my hair. I swung my Keyblade to where I thought my enemy had appeared only to pull back short to avoid hitting Riku.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" he hissed at me angrily, but my attention was already trying to relocate my prey.

"Yeah, Roxas, what the FUCK are you doing." His voice whispered again, and I swear I felt a tongue flick across the shell of my ear that time. I swung wildly in the opposite direction, but again, there was nothing there; nothing but the darkness broken only by my light. I used that light to scan around me, and it was then that I realized that I was now standing alone. Riku was gone.

I searched around me as calmly as I could, nerves tingling uncomfortably in a strange parody of emotions that I wasn't supposed to be able to feel. I focused on remaining in control of it. I was far from helpless even if I was alone, and it would not help the situation if I chose that moment to have my first ever panic attack. Sora was playing with us. Nothing more. I wouldn't let myself become another one of his toys.

I stood where I was, waiting, listening, searching with all of my senses. From somewhere closer to the school building, there came a solid concussion and I launched myself toward it without a thought. The front door of the school exploded as I approached, and I threw up a light shield to protect myself from the flying glass, wood shards and…Riku that came hurdling at me.

I fell back a little at the impact and looked up just in time to see a pair of glowing yellow eyes emerge from the darkness inside the school.

"Oh, come on, Riku! You use to actually be a challenge. I _know_ you can do better than that!" Sora taunted as his body materialized from the night. "Do you really even _want_ to save Kairi? Maybe you're just trying to keep me all to yourself. Don't think I didn't see you checkin' out my ass back on the beach," he mocked, then raised his Oathbreaker to speak directly to the key chain hanging from it.

"Hear that Kairi? Looks like Riku was just using your ass because he really wanted a piece of mine!"

A sound of near animalistic rage ripped itself from Riku's throat as he threw himself bodily at my Other. He was losing control, I could see it in every move that he made. Sora knew every button to push and the exact sequence in which to push them to hack into Riku's will, and he was doing it without shame.

Sora easily avoided Riku's advance, tucking back into the shadows of the school, and Riku chased after him, firing blast after blast of concussive dark energy trying to obliterate his target. At the rate he was going he was going to destroy Kairi too. I ran after him, dodging dark blasts that he didn't realize he was throwing in my direction, throwing up light shields to protect him from attacks he didn't see coming.

"Riku!" I called, trying to get through to him. "We have to regroup! We gotta get out of here!" He turned on me and snarled, slashing his Keyblade down angrily.

"Shit!" I exclaimed blocking the attack. "Would you look at yourself?! You're completely losing your grip on reality!" Before either of us saw it coming, Riku was suddenly hit from behind by a blast so powerful it sent him crashing through the lunch room doors behind me and across the room, buried in a heap of chairs and tables. I tried to go to him, but then Sora was smiling in front of me, arms crossed behind his head.

"And just what do you think you know about reality, Roxy?" he cooed, taking a step towards me. "You. Don't. Even. Exist!" He punctuated the last word with a flick of his finger to my forehead that sent me flying back down the hall.

"You're so pathetic!" he shouted sending his blade spinning towards me, and for the first time, he actually sounded angry. I rolled out of the blades path and fired light in his general direction hoping to make contact. He dodged my attack and caught his Keyblade, advancing on me once again.

"Why are you even fighting this?! You want this as much as I do; hate these people as much as I do!! Yet here you are, trying to stop me! I'm doing this for both of us! WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT??!?!"

He raised his blade across his shoulder preparing to slash down at me, and I took the opening to launch myself from the ground with my arms, kicking at his middle with both feet in one of Riku's favorite moves. For once it seemed that I had caught him of guard and I fired light blasts at him trying to take full advantage. He melted into shadow before my light could reach him, and after an almost painful moment of silent stillness, I could hear him whispering in my ear again.

"Just give it up. Roxas," he told me. "You and I both know this is pointless. Your heart's just not into it, is it?" The words were speaking to some part of me, resonating, and it took all of my concentration and will to hold on to my own thoughts as he continued speaking.

"We need each other, Roxas. Stay with me. Together, we can do anything; finally know what true freedom is. We could travel the stars together; see everything there is out there to see. Do you really want to be alone again? Do you really want to live with that hollow emptiness inside? Why are you fighting to be that way again? Why are you fighting to keep us apart?"

I stood, shaking, as the words caressed my mind. Everything he said tore at the defenses I had tried so hard to keep up. He was right. I didn't want to be alone; I couldn't stand the thought of being separated from my other half like I had been before. Just having him near me was enough to ease the ache of nothingness inside of me. His words were soothing, pulling me towards compliance, and I just wanted to give in. I wanted him to lead me wherever he would go. I wanted to taste all of the freedom he had promised, but there was something holding me back; something keeping me grounded.

Somewhere in me, I remembered who we were supposed to be. I remembered the worlds we had saved back when we were whole, the friends we had made, and I knew that if Sora set foot on any of those places as he was, it would mean the end. All of those friends and faces would be swallowed by darkness, and all that we had been through to fight back that darkness would have been for nothing.

"No, Sora." I told him simply, speaking to the darkness that surrounded me. "You can't play me like that. I'm you, remember? You've never been very good at fooling yourself." I thought I heard an angry hiss, but then I was shoved violently from behind sending me to the ground once more and I looked up to see both Riku and Sora standing over me. In the light of my Keyblade, I could see that the whites of Riku's eyes had become completely black, his sea-green irises shining with careless malice. That thing that was trying to be panic in me earlier made its presence known once more.

"Shit," I swore under my breath.

"Yup! You're in tons of that right now," Sora said brightly. "And deep." All cheer left his voice as he glowered down at me. "You should have listened to me, Roxas. I didn't want to hurt you. You brought this on yourself." I glared ahead of me, trying to keep an eye on both of them as I stood and settled into a defensive position. This, Sora found extremely amusing.

"Aww lookit him, Riku. He so determined. Isn't that cute?" The last he said in the annoying voice adults usually reserved for one-year-olds. I didn't find it particularly amusing.

"Oh, c'mon Rox, get the stick out of your ass." Riku said lightly. "Give it up. You lost, no big. Accept it and move on."

"Don't bother," Sora told him with a shrug. "You know how stubborn I can be."

Irritated by their banter and tired of waiting for them to decide to attack me, I decided to take the offensive in hope of surprising them enough to get away. Maybe I'd be able to get back to the door and seal it somehow on my own, or send a message to the King or Donald and Goofy or someone from the outside who could help. If I could just get away…

I launched myself backwards and fired a barrage of light blasts at both of them. Riku leapt in front of Sora raising as dark shield as Sora stood behind him calling lightning to rain down on me. I blocked the worst of it with a light shield, but still took a couple of shocks. I used the lasts of my energy to fire a shower of light over my shoulder as I ran for the nearest window, but before I could make it even two steps, a shadow Sora was crouched in front of me, dark tendrils wafting from his body as his glowing yellow eyes pierced into my own.

_Figures that he can still shift into anti-form…_

That was my last thought before his claws descended and my senses were flooded with darkness.

o-oOo-o

I was dreaming of Axel.

This struck me as particularly strange because before my adventures in the Matrix a.k.a. fake Twilight Town, I had never really dreamed at all.

_Well, that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack, you know what I mean?_

He didn't have to do it. I'd faced worse odds and come out fine in the end…why did he…?

Voices pulled me back into wakefulness though I didn't move. I didn't want my captors to know that I was listening in on their conversation.

"It's too risky, Sora. We'd have to keep an eye on him every second. Just get rid of him"

"Right, and it'll be your ass I kick into oblivion if it turns out your Keyblade isn't enough to unlock those gateways and I actually need him."

"Then put him in a summons stone or at least keep him dazed until you can convince him to behave."

"I'd love to, Riku, but in case you hadn't noticed, we're a little limited on supplies here!"

It seemed odd to me that they would be arguing. Maybe there really was more of both of them left in their bodies than any of us realized. I was laying on hard rock somewhere, the roar of the ocean not far away. The energy in the air seemed particularly concentrated here, and I knew immediately that we were at the Door to Darkness inside the Secret Place.

They were arguing over what to do with me, I realized, and they wouldn't be going through until they made a decision. It was time for me to make some decisions of my own. I had to figure out what I was going to do. I couldn't fight them on my own; I knew that for certain. But I wouldn't join them either; that I knew for certain as well. So then what could I do? Pretend to join them and then slip away while they weren't looking? Too risky. If I got caught then all the worlds out there were doomed…but then what other option did I have?

…_that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack…_

What would happen if I put my whole being into an attack? Would it be enough to take both of them out with me? Not likely. Maybe one, but definitely not both. But maybe…

All of this started because of these doorways. They were the only paths that could allow the outside worlds and the darkness and light from those worlds to interact. Without the doorways, everything remains disconnected…So would I be able to destroy the doorway completely? Was there enough power in my being to do something like that?

"Riku, we're not arguing about this anymore. We're taking him and that's final!"

I was out of time. I had to make a choice. Was I really willing to sacrifice myself for something that may not even work?

…_he made me feel like I had a heart…_

_Hearts_. I thought about Kairi, whose life we couldn't save, I thought of the Organization and their desperate need to find their hearts again. I thought of Leon, and Yuffie…Cloud and Tifa, Ariel, Sebastian, Simba, Nala, Jack, Will, Elizabeth…all of the faces, all of the lives, all of the hearts that were living beyond that doorway. I thought of what would become of them if this darkness that had been born in this world managed to spread, and in that moment, I realized that there were far more important things in all the worlds than my singular questionable existence.

I rolled to my feet as Sora was reaching to lift me, and there was nothing either of them could do as I ran at the door and lay my Ultimaweapon flat across the opening. I focused all of my will, all of my desperation, all of my hope, all of my determination…everything that I had, I focused into the singular goal of destroying that doorway. As I did, it became so clear to me that this was the only way. I couldn't live as I had before, empty and seeking…always seeking but never understanding what I was looking for or where to find it. I couldn't live knowing that the blight that was my Other and his best friend would spread throughout the worlds, destroying and devouring everything that they touched. And in there somewhere, there was a selfish part of me that was glad. Even if this didn't work, even if my sacrifice was for nothing, at least I wouldn't have to see. I would be oblivious to the chaos that half of me caused. I wouldn't have to be there to watch the faces of friends fade into darkness. At the very least, I would definitely be depriving Sora of his other half.

It was almost a relief to be able to just let go that way. Everything faded into purifying light. I could hear Sora's screams of rage, feel as Riku tried to blast me away from the Door, but none of it mattered. I was enveloped in light, shutting out the darkness forever. This world would probably fall to their rage, but the others would be safe, and that was enough for me. I had done all that I could, and with this knowledge, I released a sigh, and closed my eyes to rest.

o-oOo-o

Far away in another world that few know of and even fewer have seen, a lone King stared up into the sky as a single star flickered, then blinked out of existence. A tear rolled down his cheek as he turn from his window and completed the final entry in a small volume labeled "King's Report":

"_The Keyblade is a wondrous and powerful weapon. It has the potential to banish darkness and bring light and peace into all of the worlds, but woe to those chosen to bear the Blade. Though these Masters are given the ability to save countless worlds from certain destruction, once their destiny is complete, their lives are forfeit; unknowing sacrifices to the darkness they once banished."_

Closing the book, he turned to walk a dark corridor of swirling black energy for the last time into a place that never was. He stood before eleven red glowing monuments, the only remaining proof of the existence of 11 beings who had fallen to darkness in search of their light. He walked towards the single place that still shone blue though even as he watched, the light began to shift, fading to purple and continuing to change. Placing the volume upon this space, directly on top of an emblem showing two crossed keys, the King turned and walked away, red light staining his black clad back.


End file.
